Edwin John "Eddie" Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American entertainer. He was the most successful pop singles artist of the first half of the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show.
Eddie Fisher is the fourth of seven children born to Joseph Fisher
Eddie Fisher is the fourth of seven children born to Joseph Fisher
and Kate Winokur, who were Russian-Jewish immigrants. His 
father's surname was originally Fisch, but was anglicised to Fisher upon entry to the United States.
To his family, Fisher was always called "Sonny Boy" or "Sonny". It was known at an early age that he had talent as a vocalist and he started singing in numerous amateur contests, which he usually won. He sang on the radio in high school and was later on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, a popular radio show which moved to television. By 1946, Fisher was crooning with the bands of Buddy Morrow and Charlie Ventura. He was heard in 1949 by Eddie Cantor at Grossinger's Resort in the Borscht Belt. After performing on Cantor's radio show he was an instant hit and gained nationwide exposure. He was then signed to a contract with RCA Victor.
Fisher was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951, sent to Texas for
basic training, and served a year in Korea. From 1952 to 1953, he was the official vocal soloist for The United States Army Band and a tenor section member in the United States Army Band Chorus in Washington, D.C. After his discharge, he became even more popular singing in top nightclubs. He also had a variety television series, Coke Time with Eddie Fisher (NBC) (1953 - 1957), The Eddie Fisher Show (NBC) (1957 - 1959). A pre-Rock and Roll vocalist, Fisher's strong and melodious tenor made him a teen idol and one of the most popular singers of the 1950s. He had seventeen songs in the Top 10 on the music charts between 1950 and 1956 and thirty-five in the Top 40.
father's surname was originally Fisch, but was anglicised to Fisher upon entry to the United States.To his family, Fisher was always called "Sonny Boy" or "Sonny". It was known at an early age that he had talent as a vocalist and he started singing in numerous amateur contests, which he usually won. He sang on the radio in high school and was later on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, a popular radio show which moved to television. By 1946, Fisher was crooning with the bands of Buddy Morrow and Charlie Ventura. He was heard in 1949 by Eddie Cantor at Grossinger's Resort in the Borscht Belt. After performing on Cantor's radio show he was an instant hit and gained nationwide exposure. He was then signed to a contract with RCA Victor.
Fisher was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951, sent to Texas for
basic training, and served a year in Korea. From 1952 to 1953, he was the official vocal soloist for The United States Army Band and a tenor section member in the United States Army Band Chorus in Washington, D.C. After his discharge, he became even more popular singing in top nightclubs. He also had a variety television series, Coke Time with Eddie Fisher (NBC) (1953 - 1957), The Eddie Fisher Show (NBC) (1957 - 1959). A pre-Rock and Roll vocalist, Fisher's strong and melodious tenor made him a teen idol and one of the most popular singers of the 1950s. He had seventeen songs in the Top 10 on the music charts between 1950 and 1956 and thirty-five in the Top 40.
In 1956, Fisher costarred with then-wife Debbie Reynolds in the musical comedy Bundle of Joy. He played a serious role in the
1960 drama BUtterfield 8 with then-wife Elizabeth Taylor. His best friend was showman and producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash in 1958. Fisher's affair and subsequent marriage to Todd's famous widow caused a show business scandal because he and his first wife, also famous, had a very public divorce.In 1960, he was dropped by RCA Victor and briefly recorded on his own label, Ramrod Records , then Dot Records. During this time,
he had the first commercial recording of "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof. He then returned to RCA Victor and had a minor single hit in 1966 with the song Games That Lovers Play, which became the title of his best selling album. His last album for RCA was an Al Jolson tribute, You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet. Eddie Fisher's last album was recorded around 1984 under the Bainbridge record label. Fisher tried to stop the album from being released but it showed up on the record stores shelves entitled After All.Fisher has had five wives: actress Debbie Reynolds (married 1955-divorced 1959), actress Elizabeth Taylor (married 1959-divorced 1964), actress Connie Stevens (married
1967-divorced 1969), Terry Richard (married 1975- divorced 1976) and Betty Lin (married 1993). Betty Lin died on April 15, 2001. Fisher is the father of two children by Reynolds, actress Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher, and the father of two children by Stevens, actress Joely Fisher and actress Tricia Leigh Fisher.Fisher suffered from knee, back, hearing, and eyesight problems in his later years, the last of which were worsened by a botched cataract removal operation, and so he rarely appeared in public. According to friends, he remained mentally vigorous and kept himself busy following news and politics, and singing his old songs while friend George Michalski played the piano.
Michalski had worked on several occasions over the years to help Fisher get his name back on the music charts. He said "The '60s passed Eddie by; he missed that entire era of music. I'd play a Beatles song like Something for him and he'd think I wrote it."
Fisher broke his hip on September 9th, 2010 and died 13 days later on Seeptember 22, 2010 at his home in Berkeley, California, due to complications from hip surgery. He was 82 years old. After his death, he was cremated and his ashes were buried alongside the grave of his wife, Betty (who died on April 15, 2001), at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park. His second wife, Elizabeth Taylor, died six months and one day after Fisher, on March 23, 2011. (edited from Wikipedia) (record scan curtesy of Lord Of The Boot Sale blog).
Here's an episode of Eddie Fisher's TV series "Coke Time" from 1954, featuring him singing "Anytime", "Bring Back the Thrill", "Downhearted", "Tell Me Why", and "I Need You Now".
